Rinzai Zen Buddhism – Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Lineage

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Zen social discussion topic: Xin Xin Ming

The discussion topic for August, Sept, and October at our 3rd Sunday social after Zazen is the Xin Xin Ming, or Verses on the Faith Mind, commonly ascribed to Sengcan, the third Zen patriarch.
This month, we met the fourth Sunday, and discussed parts of the the first third of the poem, next month, we’ll resume meeting on the third Sunday, September 16, picking up where we left off in August and discussing through the midsection of the poem to “…such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.” and finishing with the remainder of the poem on October 21.

There are several translations of this poem. We are primarily using the Richard B. Clarke translation as well as a translation by Nelson Foster. These are both posted below if you don’t already have a copy.